Jan Kacper Bednarek (born 12 April 1996) is a Polish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for club

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and the Poland national team.

Club career

Lech Poznań

On 23 September 2013, at the age of 17 years old, Bednarek made his

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

debut for

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation's highest division. ...

in a 0–2 away win against

Piast Gliwice Gliwicki Klub Sportowy Piast Gliwice () is a Polish professional football club based in Gliwice. In the 2018–19 season, Piast won its first Polish championship. As of 2025–26, it competes in the Ekstraklasa, Poland's top division. Histo ...

. The Polish under-21 international became an integral member of the squad, featuring 31 times and scoring once as Lech narrowly missed out on the

2016–17 Polish Cup The 2016–17 Polish Cup was the sixty-third season of the annual Polish football knockout tournament. It began on 16 July 2016 with the first matches of the Preliminary Round and ended on 2 May 2017 with the Final at PGE Narodowy. Winners of the ...

Arka Gdynia Morski Związkowy Klub Sportowy Arka Gdynia () is a professional football club based in Gdynia, Poland, that plays in the Ekstraklasa after winning the 2024–25 I liga. The club was founded as Klub Sportowy Gdynia in 1929. History The h ...

2–1 after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

Górnik Łęczna (loan)

He was loaned to

Górnik Łęczna Gornik may refer to one of the following. *Gornik, Pleven Province, a village in Cherven Bryag Municipality, Bulgaria *April Gornik, an American painter *Górnik (meaning "miner" in Polish language, Polish) is a common name of Polish sports teams: ...

for the 2015–16 season, where he managed a total of 17 league appearances before returning to his parent club.

Southampton

2017–18 season

On 1 July 2017, Bednarek joined

on a five-year deal, for a reported fee of £5 million. On 23 August 2017, he made his debut for Southampton against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

in the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

which ended in a 2–0 defeat. Bednarek did not feature again until 8 January 2018 in a

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

match against Fulham which ended in a 1–0 victory before being substituted for

Maya Yoshida is a Japanese professional footballer who captains and plays as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre-back for Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy. Yoshida formerly played for the Japan national football team, Japan national team ...

in the second half. Bednarek played out of position at right-back during the game, but was able to help keep a clean sheet.

Virgil van Dijk Virgil van Dijk (; born 8 July 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captains both club Liverpool and the Netherlands national team. Widely regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation and ...

left in January, and

Mauricio Pellegrino Mauricio Andrés Pellegrino Luna (; born 5 October 1971) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, currently manager of Lanús. After nearly one decade with Vélez Sarsfield, he spent the vast majority of his ...

was replaced by

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of club Carlisle United F.C., Carlisle United. During his playing career he usually operated as a Forward (asso ...

who switched to a back three in April. He made his Premier League debut on 14 April 2018 against Chelsea, and scored Southampton's second goal in a 3–2 defeat. Bednarek ended the season with five league appearances and eight in all competitions.

2018–19 season

On 28 August 2018, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season in the EFL Cup against

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

which ended in a 1–0 victory. On 22 September 2018, he made his first Premier League appearance of the season against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

which ended in a 3–0 defeat after replacing

Oriol Romeu Oriol Romeu Vidal (; born 24 September 1991) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder for La Liga club FC Barcelona, Barcelona. Romeu began his career at FC ...

in the second half. On 3 December 2018, Mark Hughes was sacked by Southampton. Under Hughes, Bednarek only made two league appearances so far that season. The arrival of

Ralph Hasenhüttl Ralph Hasenhüttl (; born 9 August 1967) is an Austrian professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of VfL Wolfsburg. During his playing career, he played as a centre forward. As a manager, he has developed ...

saw a change in fortune for Bednarek, who ended the season with 25 league appearances.

2019–20 season

On 10 August 2019, he made his first appearance of the season in the league in a 3–0 defeat against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. On 25 October 2019, Bednarek featured in Southampton's

0–9 A numeral system is a writing system for expressing Number, numbers; that is, a mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set, using Numerical digit, digits or other symbols in a consistent manner. The same sequence of symbols ...

defeat to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. On 28 January 2020, he scored his first and only goal of the season in a 3–2 defeat to Wolves. Following Southampton's 1–0 defeat against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

on 7 March 2020, English football was suspended due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Southampton and Bednarek would not play again until 19 June 2020 against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

which ended in a 3–0 victory. He ended the season with 39 appearances in all competitions.

2020–21 season

On 12 September 2020, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season in the league in a 1–0 defeat to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

. On 6 November 2020, he featured in Southampton's 2–0 win over Newcastle which saw ''the Saints'' go top of the English top flight for the first time since 1988. His only goal of the season came during a 3–2 defeat to

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

on 29 November 2020. On 3 December 2020, Bednarek signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract. On 2 February 2021, Bednarek scored an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

, conceded a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

and was given a

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or di ...

after a foul on

Anthony Martial Anthony Jordan Martial (; born 5 December 1995) is a French professional footballer who plays for Super League Greece club AEK Athens. After playing youth football for Les Ulis, Martial began his professional career at Lyon, before transferri ...

in his team's record-equalling 9–0 defeat to Manchester United after Mike Dean checked the pitchside monitor. Despite this, the red card was controversial and Manchester United manager

Ole Gunnar Solskjær Ole Gunnar Solskjær (; born 26 February 1973) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who currently manages Süper Lig club Beşiktaş. He spent the majority of his playing career with Manchester United and made 67 appea ...

believed that Bednarek should not have been sent off. The red card issued was subsequently rescinded following an appeal by the club. He ended the season with 41 appearances in all competitions.

2021–22 season

On 22 August 2021, he made his first appearance of the season in a 1–1 draw against Manchester United after replacing

Theo Walcott Theo James Walcott (born 16 March 1989) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He represented England at the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2012 and won 47 caps, scoring eight goals. Walcott currently appears as a cl ...

at half time. Three days later, Bednarek made his first start of the season in an 8–0 victory in the EFL Cup against Newport County, which is Southampton's biggest away win in their history. On 18 September 2021, after not starting the opening four games, he made his first league start of the season in a 0–0 draw with

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. In that game, Southampton defender Jack Stephens had played every minute in all competitions up until he suffered a knee injury. Following the injury to Stephens, Bednarek returned to being a regular starter. On 1 December 2021, he scored his first league goal of the season in a 2–2 draw against Leicester City. On 26 December 2021, Bednarek scored his second goal in three games after he netted the winner in Southampton's 2–3 victory against

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

. On 11 January 2022, he scored again in Southampton's 4–1 victory against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

. On 16 April 2022, Bednarek's final goal of the season came in a 1–0 victory against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, which took his total goals for the season to four and he ended the season with 34 appearances in all competitions.

2022–23 season: Loan to Aston Villa

On 6 August 2022, Bednarek made his first appearance of the season for Southampton in a 4–1 defeat to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. On 1 September 2022, Bednarek joined

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

on a season-long loan. Bednarek made his debut for Aston Villa on 2 October 2022 in a 0–0 draw with

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

, replacing the injured

Ludwig Augustinsson Hans Carl Ludwig Augustinsson (; born 21 April 1994) is a Swedish professional association football, footballer who plays as a left-back for Belgian Pro League, Pro League club R.S.C. Anderlecht, Anderlecht and the Sweden men's national football ...

before half-time. The loan was ended early on 23 January 2023 as Bednarek was recalled to Southampton after making only four appearances in all competitions for Aston Villa. He made 23 appearances in all competitions throughout the season for Southampton, but the club were relegated to the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

2023–24 season

He made his first appearance of the season on 4 August 2023 in a 2–1 away victory against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

. On 12 August 2023, Bednarek scored his first goal of the season in a 4–4 draw with Norwich City. Following his fifth

yellow card Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative co ...

of the campaign during a 1–0 away victory against

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

, he was suspended for one game. He ended the season with 47 appearances in all competitions.

2024–25 season

On 13 September 2024, Bednarek signed a three-year contract extension. He scored his first goal of the season on 19 January 2025 in a 3–2 defeat against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

. On 8 March 2025, Bednarek was substituted within 20 minutes during a 3–1 defeat against Liverpool due to a clash of heads with Ryan Manning. Despite this, manager

Ivan Jurić Ivan Jurić (; born 25 August 1975) is a Croatian professional association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of Serie A, Italian Serie A club Atalanta BC, Atalanta. ...

expected him to be available for the next game against Wolverhampton Wanderers. However, he was subsequently ruled out of the match. Bednarek ended the season with 34 appearances in all competitions. Jan Bednarek 2018

International career

On 4 September 2017, Bednarek made his international debut for

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in a 3–0 victory over

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. In May 2018, he was named in Poland's preliminary 35-man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

in Russia. On 28 June 2018, he scored his first goal for Poland, the only goal in a 1–0 victory over

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. In May 2021, Bednarek was named in the Poland squad for the delayed

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

. Following a 3–2 defeat to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, Poland subsequently finished bottom of Group E. In November 2022, he was named in the Poland squad for the

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

in Qatar. On 7 June 2024, Bednarek was selected by coach Michał Probierz for

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

Personal life

His brother

Filip Filip () is a masculine given name and a surname, cognate to Philip. The male name Filip comes from the Greek "philos" (love) and "hippos" (horse), which means "horse lover". In Croatia, the name Filip was among the most common masculine given nam ...

is also a footballer, who currently plays as a goalkeeper for the Polish club

. In November 2022, Bednarek opened up on mental health struggles while at Southampton which led to him leaving the club on loan to Aston Villa during the 2022–23 season.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Poland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Bednarek goal.''

Honours

Lech Poznań *

: 2014–15 Southampton *

EFL Championship play-offs The English Football League (EFL) Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-o ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Individual * Polish Newcomer of the Year: 2016

References

External links

Profile
at Southampton F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bednarek, Jan 1996 births Living people People from Słupca County Footballers from Greater Poland Voivodeship Polish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Lech Poznań II players Lech Poznań players GKS Górnik Łęczna players Southampton F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players III liga players Ekstraklasa players Premier League players English Football League players Poland men's international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2024 players Polish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Polish expatriate sportspeople in England 21st-century Polish sportsmen